If the schools close there should be no pretence that they have switched to "online learning".

[Billie18]

If the schools close they are shut. Schools are not equipped to deliver teaching online. Teachers have not been trained to teach online. Children are not equipped to learn online. The curriculum has not been designed to be taught online. If schools close then children will not be receiving an education. It is dishonest to pretend that they are.

So if the schools close then teachers should be furloughed and children's education should be paused at the point of closure. Closing schools should not be disguised as something it is not. This would allow the damage to continue indefinitely. If schools remain closed for a longer period then teachers should be made redundant so that they are free to do other work. This of course would be terrible and would hopefully not be allowed to happen... But then schools have already not been fully open for nearly a year.

@Frestba It's not my thread, I didn't make that statement. I'm just adding my experiences. I'm very happy for the children who had wonderful home learning experiences but for my daughter and for many others the provision was very poor and I fear won't be better if schools shut again. What is the alternative? Perhaps if some schools can do amazing live lessons then they all should?

OP Are you working for home? If so before this year did you work from home permanently. If not how are you trained to do so? Should we make you redundant?

What's the plan when you make all the teachers redundant and school resumes?

[quote maverickallthetime]@Manteo I was starting work at 6am-9am I then home schooled my children and then was back to work again from mid afternoon into the evening. I had some teaching sessions sprinkled in too. If I went for a walk with my children I had moved my hours around. I was certainly putting the time in.

I think many parents did this 🤷🏼‍♀️[/quote]
Again. I'm sure you, and lots of other teachers, were. But you have to acknowledge that this was not the case for everyone.

My name, I hope when this is over all schools tech provision are looked at.
Why can one school get on line with brief teaching on teams, zoom, Google meet and for others it's literally taken months??

We had one or two of our, let's just say "less-than-savvy" parents kicking off (as the OP has done), accusing the school of not setting work.

Turns out they didn't understand where on the web-site/learning platform to look in order to access the extensive amounts that were being set each week.

Was that you, @Billie18?

OP - what has annoyed me the most about this is that I can almost guarantee you have not been into a school and do not understand what is happening behind the scenes.

I am used to the teacher bashing but it's the ignorance that gets me!

I just want to add (because my post was long and a big ramble) that this year has been awful for all of us, and I feel so awful for parents who are doing everything to fight for their child’s education, particularly those approaching exams. If my exam results had been based on my mocks, I would have been screwed. I absolutely think school is where all our children need to be - I’m just as confused and worried and concerned as to whether we should be back in January as everyone else.

OP I would just add:

Furlough the teachers - ok, well the money comes from the government anyway (for state teachers which is most)
So who’s going to go in to look after vulnerable and key worker children? Lee a handful of low paid TAs to handle them?

Make them all redundant - ok, the pay out for teachers who have been serving for donkeys years will be quite high so quite an expensive option - and how exactly do you expect the schools to reopen? Every school will have to go through re recruiting every single member of staff. Interviews, clearance checks. Why would teachers come back when their pay will likely drop? Their service came to a stop so they’ll be given a contract which will probably take them back down the pay scale and have to recline - why would they come back?

Think it through OP, think it through.

Leave a handful of TAs, not Lee!

I imagine it's partly because there is such inequality in school funding. The rural area I live in receives almost half the funding per pupil that my nephews area gets in a leafy and pretty privileged part of London. I worked at a local school here until recently and there was no money at all for IT, if something broke you didn't see it again.

Goodness me. If it wasn't teaching, then what was I doing with those live Teams meetings I had where I did presentations and facilitated discussions, and all the pre recorded versions i did for pupils sharing tech with siblings who found live tricky, and the written out versions for kids without tech. And the marking of every single piece of work 180 kids did for my subject every week. Every week between March and July?
Do enlighten me because I appear to have wasted 70 hours a week of my life for 4 months.

Ds cannot learn online. It's impossible. His school haven't provided anything during isolations because they know it is impossible.

I do think parents have a right to question the quality and effectiveness of online learning. Disparity in IT access and online provision is clear. I don’t believe this is to do with teachers and more a question of lack of proper central guidance on how this should be done properly. The difference in learning for pupils with parents who could support learning and those who couldn’t is also huge.
Our school was amazing once the kids returned and the teachers were brilliant whilst having to work in v stressful conditions.
If schools close again I hope online learning will be better.

@callmeangelgabriel I had many similar parents. I had a 45 minute phone all with one taking them through how to find work on Google classroom for their 17 year old son. Also in the phonecall they berated me for being lazy and not live teaching but did not like it when I pulled up the live call logs to show that he didn't join us.... Their next suggestion was that I called him just before his lesson to make sure he was awake!

@Billie18 you have posted what is a very distorted view of the situation many times; do you understand that your ideas simply do not and will not work?

I don't think @Billie18 cares, to be honest.
She has form for starting goady threads and this one is right up there with the best of them.

@PandemicPavolova

My name, I hope when this is over all schools tech provision are looked at. Why can one school get on line with brief teaching on teams, zoom, Google meet and for others it's literally taken months??

All schools budgets and provisions need to be looked at.

RANT ALERT!

Do you honestly believe this inequality is something new? That all children in state education got equal opportunities,provision etc? That they made similar progress? That all schools had the support ,resources,staff etc that they needed ?

Of course not. The inequality in the education system is not new or the result of Corona. It has always been present.. with children falling behind,not getting the support needed, failing to make sufficient progress,falling through the gaps etc. Even the worst struggling schools have patched the gaps the best they could and teachers kept them functional (by buying resources,food for the kids etc) to give an illusion of "it's all fine".

Everyone complains about it now that the discrepancy was made painfully obvious and for some people it was the first time they were affected by it.

But .. where were you a year ago? 5 years ago? 10 years ago? Where were you when budgets were cut? When funding was cut? When special schools were shut? When LA 's used every loophole in the book to not award funding for ECHP's and similar?

@CallmeAngelGabriel

I don't think *@Billie18* cares, to be honest. She has form for starting goady threads and this one is right up there with the best of them.

Yes agreed , she has posted some very ‘interesting’ threads to date.

I've been working my bum off to successfully teach online whilst simultaneously teaching my classes in school since October. And teaching from my lounge when I've had to isolate with my kids. Here, have a delicious Christmas

In the US my dd has been doing online school all year and it is absolutely wonderful. Yes, there are practical issues with younger kids and child care, but the actual education the kids are receiving is excellent. Part of me would be happy if we switched to this method entirely and just went up to the school for clubs and occasional hands-on activities.

@CallmeAngelGabriel although the OP goes a bit OTT in her post can you not accept the frustrations of parents who feel let down by their children's schools? Just because your school set lots of work online doesn't mean all schools did.

Those saying "have your ever seen an online lesson" as a reason online learning is a good idea.
No I haven't. Not one, despite having children in both primary and secondary school.
Just because your school does this well, doesn't mean they all do.

Well I agree with the OP. Online provision has been hugely variable in quality and effectiveness and that is not intended as a slur on any individual teacher.
For many kids we might as well write off a year of education.
No one was prepared for this- kids, teachers, or parents.
Teachers don't know how to teach online and the unions have been massively obstructive.
Kids aren't used to learning on line and don't have the right IT equipment or support at home. Some kids really struggle like my DD to learn online.
Parents have jobs to do and don't have the time or skills to supervise.
The first lockdown was a mess and nothing has been done as far as I can see since September to prepare for any further online learning.
I'm not prepared to waste my time any more. If the schools shut again then I won't be bothering to attempt home school. I will do my job as best as I can. Homeschool was a total failure for us- DD is just going to have to do what she can with minimal input and catch up in school at a later date,

even the Torygraph sees the problem despite the widespread denial on here

Maybe look to moving to a better school

Ha ha ha ha. Really?

How do you know what teachers are or are not trained for op?

@Ihatemyseleffordoingthis

even the Torygraph sees the problem despite the widespread denial on here

Isn't it lovely how the Telegraph is developing an interest in disadvantaged children.

Would it not be great if this translated itself into support for more funding for education and social services?